I was weaker than I realized, considering he was still holding me in front of him. Normally, I would have been able to have him flat on his back by then.
When he released my hand, he began to show me other markings on his arms. They appeared to tell a story.
What is with this guy and stories, anyway?
The tattoos glowed under his touch. His words flowed from his lips in rapid succession. “Cast out of the Heavens to suffer alone. Flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone.”
“Seth?”
A blood-curdling scream erupted from his mouth. I heard a ripping sound that made me want to pass out. He turned around again. The wing tattoo was suddenly real. Wings burst out of the tattoo on his back, though half of each was missing. Damaged, as if someone had taken a knife to them and cut in haste without care for the person they were attached to.
Seth’s voice interrupted my shock. “A reminder.”
“Of what?” I whispered, my voice audibly shaking.
“What I am.”
I reached out to touch part of the white and blood-stained feathers. He looked away and said with choked words, “Marked.”
Seth’s eyes transformed from red to white, a brilliant white to be exact. The silver tattoos on his arms lit up, and his hair grew all the way down his back right before my eyes. His face turned hard like a statue. He smiled, and in that moment I couldn’t breathe. I’d been given a glimpse, a very small glimpse, into what he used to be.
It wasn’t until Seth reached out to wipe away my tears that I realized I was crying. I hated showing weakness, but it was heartbreaking. It reminded me so much of what had happened to my brothers and sisters when they’d chosen to fight with the Phantoms. It killed me and infuriated me at the same time.
I know El was fair and just.
I just hated that humans, in all of their sin and corruption, were given second chances, while those like Seth were not.
I calmed myself down and managed to catch my breath. Seth led me to the couch. I sat in relative silence while I watched him transmute back into his normal form. I tried not to stop breathing altogether when I got another glimpse of his perfectly sculpted chest and abs. Wisdom told me to look away, but like a moth, I was drawn to the flame. I took in the curves of his chest, and the way his breath seemed to be laborious as he moved fluidly back into the kitchen.
I was suddenly thankful angels were always fully clothed rather than in their state before the Fall. I closed my eyes and waited for the food to be done. I felt exhausted. Yet, when my eyes closed, all I could think of was the fact that Seth would forever be separated, never given a second chance. And my heart was again weak for the partner given to us. After we’d won, after the Titans were defeated, what would happen to the ones who were Fallen once they’d sworn their allegiance? Would they continue to live as outcasts, or would there be a place for them in Eden as well?
“Nobody knows, Thena,” Seth answered, bringing a heaping pile of pasta with him to the couch. “And to be completely honest, I’m not sure if I care to know. What’s done is done. It would be unfair of me to ask for more from Him, whom I betrayed.”
“Fair?” I choked. “How is any of this fair? Don’t get me wrong. I understand that consequences must be faced, but…” I sighed, not able to finish my sentence.
Seth smiled sadly. “Still so young and innocent.”
My vanity took in the compliment swiftly, but I was still perplexed, and to be completely honest, a little leery of him and his stories. I looked up with questioning eyes.
“Yes.” Seth put the plate down “You’ve been around since your beginning, but what about mine? Have you any idea how long I’ve been around?”
My mind wanted to quickly work the figures, and then I realized no numbers came to mind, naturally because he was first. He’d been around since the creation, since El had first made the world what it is and was. He’d been around when others fell; he had been around when the choice was made for him by his brothers. Before my conception, he’d been alive and breathing.
“Now, shall we eat? You look positively starved.” Seth rubbed his hands together and threw a fork at me. I snatched it out of the air and dug into the pasta.
“They will come for you, Thena,” Seth said, watching his hands. “I’ve been told to inform you. I’m nothing but your guide, as well as your protector in case things go… wrong.”
“They? Things go wrong?” I swallowed. “What are you talking about, Seth?”
“The angels, the Seekers, all of us need you to do something. It’s why you’re here, why I told you the stories of old. Why Adonis is resting up.”
I lifted my eyebrow in curiosity. “And just what exactly is supposed to happen?”
Seth pushed away from the couch, a curious smile on his lips. “When you were named, you took on the identity of Athena. Can you not put two and two together?”